Every Wednesday, our resident Gleek Eric Garneau gives his take on last night’s Glee covers.

In “Asian F,” auditions for West Side Story continue, with Mercedes (Amber Riley) and Rachel (Lea Michele) battling it out for the leading role of Maria. Meanwhile, Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.) starts to falter academically, and Will (Matthew Morrison) tries to get Emma (Jayma Mays) to introduce him to her parents.

Week by week, Glee threatens to make me more culturally literate. Last week we got an education in West Side Story, while this week’s episode takes on something of a Dreamgirls theme — one of its songs comes from that classical musical-turned-film, while two others hail from the film’s stars. Unlike last week’s episode, however, we’ve got three more songs thrown into the mix as well: another from West Side Story, one from the musical Fame, and Coldplay‘s monster ballad “Fix You.” That gives us a bit more musical variety than we’ve seen so far this year, although songs from actual musicals still take up perhaps more than their share of space. Also, with all these songs from West Side Story already performed, do you think we’ll actually get to see the musical? There won’t be anything left to do!Continue reading »

An exciting day for Cover Me today, as we unveil our spiffy new logo (which you saw above). All the contest entries were great, but that cover-tastic design above comes from winner Gabrielle C. She describes her approach:

I knew what I wanted to do pretty much as soon as I saw the contest announcement. I’m not very versed in popular music, so I emailed to ask for some well-known covers in order to round out the original three I had. For the artists I wasn’t familiar with, I listened to some of their songs in order to get a sense of what kind of design would be appropriate (picking fonts was actually one of the most time-consuming components of the whole project). Everything save for the wood texture was created using Photoshop, including the records themselves.

As part of her prize she got to choose a post’s theme, coming up with the great idea of choral covers. Even excluding “Ave Maria” and Handel’s Messiah, there’s a lot to choose from, famous choirs the world over reaching across genres to tackle a pop tune.

The Red Army Choir – Down Under (Men at Work)
This was the song Gabriella suggested to get the idea going, and it’s top-notch. All the joy of choral covers with the oddball charm of nonstop accordion. They do a cover of “Sex Bomb” that’ll knock you out. Maybe I’ll tweet it sometime. [Buy]

Scala and Kolacny Brothers – Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve)
This Belgian choir has a full disc of pop hits that will knock you out. This Verve hit somehow sounds perfect for the over-the-top pomp when dozens of women blast out every line. [Buy]

Traces Gospel Choir – Walk Don’t Walk (Prince)
The Artist Currently Known as Prince is a devout Jehovah’s Witness, so a gospel cover seems more than appropriate. I have to imagine Prince borrowed the title from the instrumental classic “Walk Don’t Run” (amazing cover here), but this one sounds more Van Morrison than Ventures. [Buy]

Vienna Boys Choir – Message In a Bottle (The Police)
These prim and proper rascals are so well-trained they can’t bring themselves to copy Sting’s vocal inflections. Hearing “sea” instead of “sea-oh” might throw you off at first, but the accents more than compensate. This one’s off Goes Pop, an album of all pop covers. [Buy]

Hell Blues Choir – Swordfishtrombones (Tom Waits)
These guys have put two albums out, one of Tom Waits covers, the other tackling Ray Charles. You can imagine how their takes on “Downtown Train” and “Jersey Girl” sound, but this twisted tune is a brave choice indeed. They make this lesser-known gem swing along without losing its carnival macabre. [Buy]

VoiceWorks – Grace Kelly (Mika)
Indie-pop favorite Mika’s got a new album coming out this fall, so what better time to remember his phenomenal debut? Believe it or not, Australian television hosted an American Idol-style contest called Battle of the Choirs. This Queensland Youth Choir busted this out in the quarter finals. What did they sing the previous round? “Down Under”! [Buy]

Young@Heart Chorus – Fix You (Coldplay)
These septuagenarian singers got a lot of notice recently the with Young@Heart documentary, but this comes from a live album released before then. This one sounds like later-period Johnny Cash. The prequel to “Hurt,” perhaps. [Buy]

Perpetuum Jazzile – Africa (Toto)
Most of the world couldn’t locate Slovenia on a map (can you?), but over nine million have watched this choir on YouTube, making them the country’s greatest national export. The video to this is worth watching to see how they create the rain sounds. [Buy]

PS22 Chorus – Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)
These adorable elementary schoolers have become YouTube sensations with their covers of pop tunes (hear more). Thankfully they haven’t yet reached the age where enthusiasm is uncool, earning them an appearance on the recent Passion Pit album. [Buy]

Capital Children’s Choir – Chinese (Lily Allen)
Gentlemen, get ready to melt. These kids take one of Lily’s few songs not about partying or sex and add a heartbreaking vulnerability you’d never get from someone older. [Buy]